* 1669 – The Venetians surrender the fortress of Candia to the Ottomans, thus ending the 21-year long Siege of Candia.

In the sixteenth century, the island began to be settled by refugees, Greek and Albanian, due to the warfare between the Ottomans and Venetians.

In 1476, the Venetians and the island's Greek inhabitants successfully defended Kotsinos against a Turkish siege, but the island was ceded to the Ottomans by the 1479 Treaty of Constantinople which ended the First Ottoman-Venetian War.

During the Fifth Ottoman-Venetian War, following a major victory over the Ottoman fleet, the Venetians captured the island again on 20 August 1656, but the Ottomans recovered it barely a year later, on 31 August 1657, after a siege of 36 days.

The castle dates back to Byzantine times and has served the Byzantines, Crusaders, Venetians, Ottomans, and British.

It was slowly taken over by the Venetians for the next two centuries until 1390, and in 1470, after a long siege, it passed to the Ottomans, who made it the seat of the Admiral of the Archipelago ( the Aegean Islands ).

The Ottomans and the Venetians threatened it from the south, the emperor Frederick III from the west, and Casimir IV of Poland from the north, both Frederick and Casimir claiming the throne.

On January 25 an agreement between the Venetians and the Ottoman Empire ended the siege, permitting the citizens to leave unharmed, and the Ottomans to take over the deserted city.

The Venetians occupied it from 1687 to 1715, but otherwise the Ottomans held it until 1821 and the beginning of the Greek War of Independence.

In 1687, Athens was besieged by the Venetians during the Morean War, and the temple of Athena Nike was dismantled by the Ottomans to fortify the Parthenon.

The occupation of the Acropolis continued for six months and both the Venetians and the Ottomans participated in the looting of the Parthenon.

The Venetians had gained reinforcements by sea but when the Ottomans stormed the city the outcome was forgone and the Venetians fled to their ships.

The Venetians still controlled Crete and some ports, but otherwise the Ottomans controlled many regions of Greece except the mountains and heavily forested areas.

During the frequent Ottoman – Venetian Wars, the Greeks sided with the Venetians against the Ottomans, with a few exceptions.

The Peace of Karlowitz, which for the first time brought the Ottomans into the mainstream of European diplomacy, was signed on January 26, 1699 by the Ottomans, the Venetians, and a large number of Europeans powers.

In 1687 it was recaptured by the Venetians, but was again restored in 1699, by the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Ottomans.

The Venetians, under Lazzaro Mocenigo, continued their strategy of blockading the Dardanelles, to prevent the Ottomans from resupplying their forces in the Aegean Sea.

As the Ottomans advanced, one galleass was sunk and one galley burnt and the rowing vessels retreated, after which the Venetians attacked the Ottoman sailing ships, resulting in 9 being burnt and 2 wrecked.

It was the heaviest naval defeat the Ottomans had suffered since the Battle of Lepanto, and enabled the Venetians to occupy the strategically important islands of Tenedos and Lemnos, thus establishing a tight blockade of the Straits.

However, these terms were rescinded ; the Venetians say that Mustafa was angry at seeing the pathetic status and numbers of the army that had troubled him while the Ottomans say that the Venetians mistreated Turkish prisoners.

The Greek population of Cyprus were given weapons by their rulers the Venetians and fought the attacking Ottomans.

By the beginning of 1204, Isaac II and Alexios IV had inspired little confidence among the people of Constantinople in their efforts to defend the city from the Latins and Venetians, who were restless and rioted when the money and aid promised by Alexios IV was not forthcoming.

It is certain that the Venetians and others were active traders in Constantinople, making a living out of shipping goods between the Crusader Kingdoms of Outremer and the West, while also trading extensively with Byzantium and Egypt.

In 1204 Constantinople fell to the Venetians and the Franks in the Fourth Crusade.

Of the icon painting tradition that developed in Byzantium, with Constantinople as the chief city, we have only a few icons from the 11th century and none preceding them, in part because of the Iconoclastic reforms during which many were destroyed, and also because of plundering by Venetians in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, and finally the taking of the city by the Islamic Turks in 1453.

The Genoese, in trying to repel a Venetian fleet from destroying their ships in Golden Horn, bombarded the sea walls of Constantinople and pushed Byzantines to ally with Venetians.

Following the fall of Constantinople the former Roman Empire was partitioned among the Latin crusaders and the Venetians.

In 992, Basil II concluded a treaty with Pietro Orseolo II by the terms that Venice's custom duties in Constantinople would be reduced from 30 nomismata to 17 nomismata in return for the Venetians agreeing to transport Byzantine troops to southern Italy in times of war.

In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, with a Latin Emperor under the influence of the Venetians established at Constantinople, the Venetian Marco Sanudo conquered the island and soon captured the rest of the islands of the Cyclades, establishing himself as Duke of Naxia, or Duke of the Archipelago.

He was acutely aware of the danger posed by the possibility that the Latin West, particularly his neighbors in Italy ( Charles I of Sicily, Pope Martin IV, and the Venetians ) would unite against him and attempt the restoration of Latin rule in Constantinople.

Louis purchased his Passion relics from Baldwin II, the Latin emperor at Constantinople, for the sum of 135, 000 livres, though this money was actually paid to the Venetians, to whom the relics had been pawned.

Alexius convinced Boniface, and later the Venetians, to divert the Crusade to Constantinople and restore Isaac II to the throne, as he had recently been deposed by Alexius III, Alexius and Irene's uncle.

Consecrated emperor at Rome, in a church outside the walls, by Pope Honorius III on 9 April 1217, he borrowed some ships from the Venetians, promising in return to conquer Durazzo for them ; but he failed in this enterprise, and sought to make his way to Constantinople by land.

To this accomplishment he probably owed his selection as one of the ambassadors sent by emperor Andronicus II in 1327 to remonstrate with the Venetians for their attack upon the Genoese settlement in Pera near Constantinople.

In 1026, his father was deposed as doge by a revolt of the Venetians and he had to escape to Constantinople.

The participants ( crusaders and Venetians ) in the Fourth Crusade captured and sacked Constantinople in 1204, looting The Church of Holy Wisdom and various other Orthodox holy sites, and converting them to Latin Catholic worship.

Meanwhile, Alexius granted the Venetians a commercial colony in Constantinople, as well as exemption from trading duties in return for their renewed aid.

Venice had originally been a subject city of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Venetians saw St Theodore as a symbol of their subjection to Constantinople.

Although they often squabbled amongst themselves they were usually fiercely loyal to the emperor in Constantinople ( though sometimes they sought to supplant the emperor and rise to the throne ), while their land was surrounded by hostile Venetians and Turks.

The Venetians, superior at sea, endeavoured to cut off the supplies and reinforcements to the Ottoman army, and attempted several times to blockade the Straits of the Dardanelles, through which the Ottoman fleet had to sail to reach the Aegean Sea from its base around Constantinople.

He was admitted to the society of the first scholars and the most eminent nobles ; and in 1419 he received an appointment from the state, which enabled him to reside as notary and chancellor to the Baile of the Venetians in Constantinople.

After the fall of Constantinople, many Byzantine musicians took refuge on Crete and established schools of Byzantine music, as did numerous Venetians.

# Schism of the Greeks and Latins – State of Constantinople – Revolt of the Bulgarians – Isaac Angelus Dethroned by his Brother Alexuis – Origin of the Fourth Crusade – Alliance of the French and Venetians with the son of Isaac – Their Naval Expedition to Constantinople – The Two Sieges, and Final Conquest of the City by the Latins – Sacrilege, Mockers, Destruction